Grey's Anatomy Season 8, Episode 5 Recap: "Loss, Love & Legacy"

Can you believe that Season 8 of Grey's Anatomy is almost a quarter done? Now's the time for the writers to buckle down for some serious, weighty drama. That's why last night’s episode (Season 8, Episode 5), titled "Love, Loss and Lexie" — oops — "Loss, Love and Legacy" is all about one dude's junk, or lack thereof. We'll explain...

The surgeons are called to the auditorium for a special guest lecture by a surgeon who looks just like a certain judge on a certain dance show but, in fact, turns out to be Catherine Avery. That's right: Jackson's (Jesse Williams) mama is in town. And he is none too pleased about it, considering he thinks she is hypercritical shrew! (He even sent Lexie [Chyler Leigh] to visit her sister so that the two wouldn't meet!) And Catherine Avery has a guest of her own: Ryan, a patient who overcame penile cancer but lost his, uh, prized possession in the process. When Ryan disrobes in front of the entire hospital, everyone is itching to scrub in to this elite surgery.

After reviewing all of the docs' surgical prowess, Catherine chooses Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Jackson to assist. She also invites Mark (Eric Dane) to participate when she finds out that he's Jackson's mentor. Midway through the surgery, Meredith has to step out (for reasons we'll discuss later), and Eager Beaver April (Sarah Drew) steps in. But when the Averys start arguing over Jackson's decision to pursue plastics, April becomes distracted and accidentally vacuums up Ryan's dorsal vein. Mark proposes a cutting-edge fix, Catherine trusts him, and they're able to finish the surgery, giving Ryan a fully-functioning manhood. Later, Catherine, Jackson, and April go out to a bar to celebrate. April is still fretting about her mistake in the OR, but a very forgiving Catherine sets her up with one of the men at the joint.

All the while, Mark has been giving Catherine rave reviews about Lexie. At the bar, she tells her son to be careful around Mark since Mark talks about Lexie with such gusto. She also asks Jackson if he loves Lexie, and is delighted when Jackson says yes, in effect, by dodging the question. (Can you feel the love tonight?!)

Also in this episode, Alex (Justin Chambers) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) get paged, and they run to an exam room to find Janet and Zola inside. Janet said that Zola had a seizure, and Alex and Arizona deduce that Zola has a bowel obstruction. Going against Janet's specific instructions, Alex tells Cristina (Sandra Oh) who tells Meredith. Meredith leaves Catherine's surgery, and she and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) discuss options. Derek is rarin' to fix the obstruction himself since his shunt is the thing causing the trouble, but Meredith and Arizona convince him to let Arizona do the work. (Mer and Der don't want to do anything that might endanger their chances at keeping the baby.) Arizona rocks the surgery, and Alex delivers the happy news to MerDer. Meredith breaks down crying, and as Derek takes her downstairs in the elevator, they come face-to-face with Janet, who sees Meredith's tear-streaked face. (Uh-oh.) Cristina stays with Zola overnight and lets Mer and Der sing Zola a lullaby over the phone.

Meanwhile, Teddy (Kim Raver) and Henry (Scott Foley) are hosting a dinner party and invite Bailey (Chanda Wilson) and Eli. When Ben gives Bailey a hard time about having implied that he should wait for her to get better and then starts cavorting with another dude in his absence, Bailey realizes that she should break up with Eli. Eli takes it like a man, having known all along that this was a likely outcome, but his complacence makes Bailey feel that much worse. She later sees Ben and tells him the news and tells him not to assume she did it because of him, but Ben is not convinced.

Richard (James Pickens Jr.) spends the episode trying to convince Bailey to use Meredith on the islet trial, but Bailey is too angry with Mer to consent.

At the dinner party (at which everyone looks tres chic), Arizona pulls Callie (Sara Ramirez) aside and tells her that she wants some sort of paper saying that she is officially a parent to Sofia. Callie happily agrees.

So there you have it. Some hearts filled, some hearts broken, and a vital organ replaced. Just another week on Grey's Anatomy. What will next week have in store? And will we ever see more of Lexie? Stay tuned...